If you bought Microsoft Corp. stock exactly a year ago and made the mistake of holding it, this morning's market saw the stock right back where it started: at its buy price. That's hardly the investing result one might expect from this sound tech behemoth, except that the company might not be as sound as once thought.
Venture capital has become so plentiful that it was just a matter of time before some spilled over into nonprofit organizations. Silicon Valley VCs have made a few stabs at philanthropy. The most visible has been Sand Hill Road's annual soapbox derby -- where, often, more money is spent on the cars than given to charity.
Microsoft Corp. started it. Today's Nasdaq carnage, that is. The tech behemoth slid nearly 15 percent today, down $15.38 to $90.88, taking the Nasdaq down with it. The index fell a whopping 349 points, or nearly 8 percent, to close at 4223.74.
Did anything in the market go up today? Sure, but maybe not the companies you'd expect. On the fourth consecutive day of heavy losses on the Nasdaq - which was down as much as 289 points at one point before recouping a bit to close at 4457.89, down 186.78 points - the index's beloved tech companies suffered further reversals of previous gains.
Today might have marked an important anniversary for the Dow - the index hit 10000 on this day last year - but the Nasdaq made all the news. The tech-rich index suffered its third-straight day of losses, dropping 189.22, or nearly 4 percent, to close at 4644.67. Neither earnings reports nor interest rate moves could take the blame. Investors simply seemed to be more skittish about high valuations.
Microsoft Corp. led the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a downhill ride today. The Dow dropped 86.87 points, or 0.78 percent, to 11,025.85 as it became clear that the federal government would reject the company's settlement offer in its antitrust lawsuit. Uncertainty over the tech behemoth's future led Microsoft to close the day down US$7.63, or 6.83 percent, at $104.06.